88" box blade on a 84.5" wide tractor?

[In.the.Piñons]

I found a used BB that I'm interested in, but I wonder if it's a little to narrow for my tractor. Used ones, rated for my tractor's HP, (with hydraulic rippers) don't come up for sale all that often. New, they are $5-6K, which is more than I'm willing to pay. So waiting for a used 96" BB to come up for sale, might mean scrapping some projects until next year.

I also have a 9ft, 6 way blade and a 8ft land plane (no rippers), so I won't need the BB to ditch or for finish grading.
Basically I'll be using it for re-shaping/rebuilding roads and spreading rock and gravel.

 

[jyoutz]

I found a used BB that I'm interested in, but I wonder if it's a little to narrow for my tractor. Used ones, rated for my tractor's HP, (with hydraulic rippers) don't come up for sale all that often. New, they are $5-6K, which is more than I'm willing to pay. So waiting for a used 96" BB to come up for sale, might mean scrapping some projects until next year.

I also have a 9ft, 6 way blade and a 8ft land plane (no rippers), so I won't need the BB to ditch or for finish grading.
Basically I'll be using it for re-shaping/rebuilding roads and spreading rock and gravel.

Since you don’t tilt box blades like you do straight blades, covering the wheel width is all that’s necessary, especially since you have your 9’ blade for when you need to get wider. I just gave an 8’ 6 way blade for mine, no box blade. I found that with my blade I really prefer it to a box blade for doing road work. If you need to carry material, I would consider adding removable wings to your back blade, and trying that before buying a box blade.

 

[In.the.Piñons]

My blade came with wings and I've used them to grade out a section of steep dirt road that was in very bad shape. It worked, but seem to take forever to get close to smooth. I've yet to use it to spread gravel though.

 

[jyoutz]

My blade came with wings and I've used them to grade out a section of steep dirt road that was in very bad shape. It worked, but seem to take forever to get close to smooth. I've yet to use it to spread gravel though.

Everyone’s road conditions are different. I sold my box blade after buying my heavy 8’ 6 way blade because I found that I wasn’t using the box blade. I think they are great for leveling ground for a shed or garage or punching in new roads, but the 6 way blade is so much more versatile for general road maintenance.

 

[In.the.Piñons]

Everyone’s road conditions are different. I sold my box blade after buying my heavy 8’ 6 way blade because I found that I wasn’t using the box blade. I think they are great for leveling ground for a shed or garage or punching in new roads, but the 6 way blade is so much more versatile for general road maintenance.

I've just added a hydraulic angle adjust to my blade along with a hydro top link (it already has hydro tilt and offset), but I can't use it until my rear remote expansion kit arrives.

Maybe that much adjustment at my finger tips will speed things along a bit. However, we haven't had any usable rain since April, so I can't touch any of my non-gravel roads without turning them into a sandy mess. Frustrating, but I shouldn't complain as some people are dealing with a lot worse with the fires out here in Western Colorado. Droughts & the accompanying fires are the worst!

 

[jyoutz]

I've just added a hydraulic angle adjust to my blade along with a hydro top link (it already has hydro tilt and offset), but I can't use it until my rear remote expansion kit arrives.

Maybe that much adjustment at my finger tips will speed things along a bit. However, we haven't had any usable rain since April, so I can't touch any of my non-gravel roads without turning them into a sandy mess. Frustrating, but I shouldn't complain as some people are dealing with a lot worse with the fires out here in Western Colorado. Droughts & the accompanying fires are the worst!

I think that you’re going to be real happy with your blade once you get the hydraulics dialed in. I did that to mine last year. I’m surprised that you are not that far from where I live in Santa Fe County, but haven’t had rain since April. We had an extremely wet May/June and below average July/August, but still some pretty nice rain during those months.

This is my blade setup: